SENG Research Excellence Award 2024-25

Three outstanding faculty members have had their achievements recognized with the School of Engineering (SENG) Research Excellence Award 2024-25.

Established in 2011, the SENG Research Excellence Award aims to recognize and reward faculty members for their research impact and contributions in local, regional, and global contexts. The awards are classified into three categories to encompass faculty members who are in different stages of their academic life.

The most prestigious award among the three categories, the Distinguished Research Excellence Award honors a distinguished faculty member with exceptional research achievements and significant impact both locally and globally. The Research Excellence Award recognizes the efforts of an outstanding faculty member who demonstrates a proven record of research excellence. The Young Investigator Research Award recognizes the achievements of a promising rising star who has the potential to be a future leader.

The 2024-25 award recipients are:

Distinguished Research Excellence Award
Prof. YANG Hai
Chair Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering

Ranked No. 1 worldwide in transportation research, Prof. Yang Hai is renowned for his pioneering work in transportation system analysis, modeling, optimization, and innovative mobility solutions. His impressive publication record includes over 100 articles in Transportation Research (TR) Part B: Methodological, the most influential journal in the field, and more than 380 papers in SCI/SSCI-indexed journals, culminating in nearly 40,000 citations and an H-index of 103 on Google Scholar. He also served as the Editor-in-Chief of TR Part B: Methodological from 2013 to 2018.

Research Excellence Award
Prof. SHAO Minhua
Cheong Ying Chan Professor of Energy Engineering and Environment
Head and Chair Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering

Director of HKUST Energy Institute A world-renowned electrochemist, Prof. Shao Minhua is a pioneer in developing in-situ spectroscopic techniques and applying them in studying these reactions. He published over 320 peer-reviewed papers with 37,500+ citations and an H-index of 91 on Google Scholar. He is a Fellow of the Electrochemical Society and has served as a Technical Editor of the prestigious Journal of The Electrochemical Society (JES) since 2023.

Young Investigator Research Award
Prof. CHEN Hao
Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering
Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Assistant Professor, Division of Life Science

Prof. Chen Hao has made remarkable achievements in large and trustworthy AI for biomedicine and brought significant impact to both academia and society. He published 200+ peer-reviewed papers in top-tier conferences and journals, with more than 36,000 citations and an H-index of 79 on Google Scholar. He gained multiple highly competitive awards, such as the Asian Young Scientist Fellowship and the prestigious MICCAI Young Scientist Publication Impact Award. The AI technologies he developed improve diagnostic accuracy for over 30 disease types and are actively deployed in hospitals.